


Don't Bury Me

by Eden Marie Dawson (GodDamnedPlums)



Series: Heaven On Earth [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Poor Gabriel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-05 12:07:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11013099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodDamnedPlums/pseuds/Eden%20Marie%20Dawson
Summary: Two months before Dean and Castiel were to be wed, Sam announced that he was coming home from California, after having landed a promising job at a law firm almost directly after graduation. He had told Dean that he was tired of being away from his family, and since the pay was just as good as any job he could’ve landed in California, he decided to pack up his bags and head back home.When Gabriel heard the news, he was elated. He had been dreaming of the six-foot-four moose of a man almost every night, and while Sam’s emails and texts to him had become few and far in between, he had just assumed that he had become busy, what with graduation and the job hunt going on and all. What he wasn’t expecting, however, when he decided to go to the airport with Dean to meet Sam, flowers hidden behind his back as a surprise for him, was to see a pretty, blonde woman hanging on the arm of his former lover, and both staring into each other’s eyes as if nothing else in the world mattered. The same way that Dean and Castiel often looked at one another.





	1. Tell them what I hoped would be impossible

**Author's Note:**

> This story is currently on hiatus. I know I shouldn't let comments get to me, especially when they're only trying to offer constructive criticism, but I've lost the muse to continue this story at the moment. I will come back to it, eventually, but I just don't have the heart to work on it right now. Sorry guys. xoxo.

[ ](http://s36.photobucket.com/user/OhMyChuck89/media/11_zpsfjvmwbhf.jpg.html)

Six months. Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester had been married for only six months, and already the newlyweds were driving Gabriel Novak up the god-damned wall with how adorable they were being. Now, normally, he wouldn’t mind the open affection. He’d been worried about his little brother finding happiness in anything other than the dusty old textbooks he clung to so tightly for years, so when he found solace in Dean’s arms, Gabriel was ecstatic for him. For them both, honestly. He had even been made Castiel’s “man of honor”—though Cas had put his foot down on Gabriel insisting he wore armor to commemorate the title—in the Novak-Winchester wedding.

He had been happy for them… for the first four months. By the fifth, they were starting to wear on his nerves just a tiny bit, and by the sixth, he was ready to start ripping hair out—be it his own out of frustration, or theirs when he jerked them out of yet another lip-lock. It seemed like everywhere he went, there they were, wrapped up in each other’s arms so tightly that nothing and no one else in the world even existed. It was fucking annoying.

Though, if Gabriel was being truthful, it wasn’t just his brother and his husband’s marriage that was grating on his nerves, it was everyone’s relationship. His eldest brother, Michael, had been spending most of his time at his girlfriend Anna’s house, after finally having agreed to take the next step and ‘make it official’. And Luke, whenever he was at home, he was head down, eyes glued to his phone, texting or video chatting with the pretty brunette that he’d met downtown. Gabriel didn’t know what she did for a living, but for some reason, she and Luke only managed to get together every few weeks, but spent most of their other waking hours talking or video chatting.

It was almost as if everyone, aside from his erratic yet loving father, Chuck, was throwing their relationships right in Gabriel’s face as if he couldn’t already plainly see that he was going to be painfully forever alone. A little dramatic, perhaps, but he was entering a five-month dry spell that was beginning to wear on his self-confidence.

It wasn’t just about the sex, though. Sex was great, don’t get him wrong, but Gabriel wasn’t getting any younger, and he was beginning to think about settling down. Something, he was almost certain of, that his family never imagined he would ever do. Sure, everyone assumed Luke would end up living at home for the rest of his life, taking care of Chuck and several dozen cats, but that was because Luke had never shown any interest in relationships after his first girlfriend dumped him for the captain of the football team. It was shortly after that, that Luke had been caught spray painting dicks on the center of the football field and consequently been suspended. He’d left shortly after, giving two middle fingers to the administration as he was drug out by security. That was a proud moment for the Novak family. One for the history books, as Chuck had said about the whole incident. But Gabriel… Gabriel was the ‘family romantic’. He was the one with the big heart, that always got too attached, far too easily, and never could seem to let go of someone, even when they’d hurt him. Case in point, one Sam Winchester. 

As soon as Gabriel had met the tall drink of water, he’d been smitten. He’d played it off as obvious and playful flirting, but deep down, his heart was pounding like a jackhammer and his mind was racing a mile a minute. He wanted to do all he could to get closer to the gigantic puppy, and one drunken poker game with the rest of his family gave him that chance. He was certain he’d made an impression that night when he had spectacularly lost not only his money, but his clothing, in the game of strip poker and the proceeded to gyrate right next to the youngest Winchester’s face. He had had one too many drinks prior to the incident, but it had produced such a beautiful blush on the dimpled cheeks that Gabriel couldn’t bring himself to care or be embarrassed about the situation. Plus, it had earned him a quick goodnight kiss when he had left the Novak household that left Gabriel’s lips tingling and pulled into a damn near permanent smile for the rest of the evening.

They had gone on a few days after that night; just simple dinner and movie nights that sometimes lead to a heavy make-out session on the couch, and one evening where Gabriel and Sam had gotten so smashed that they had attempted to push the boundaries of their nearly-there relationship, but neither of them could stop laughing long enough to do anything when Sam toppled over while trying to get out of his pants without taking his boots off first. Gabriel was no stranger to one-night stands, and it was common knowledge that he had an on-again, off-again sexual relationship with the fashion model Kali, but when it came to Sam, Gabriel wanted more. He wanted everything that Sam was willing to give him, because Gabriel was willing to give him the world.

A world that came crashing down around him just eight seemingly short months ago. Two months before Dean and Castiel were to be wed, Sam announced that he was coming home from California, after having landed a promising job at a law firm almost directly after graduation. He had told Dean that he was tired of being away from his family, and since the pay was just as good as any job he could’ve landed in California, he decided to pack up his bags and head back home.

When Gabriel heard the news, he was elated. He had been dreaming of the six-foot-four moose of a man almost every night, and while Sam’s emails and texts to him had become few and far in between, he had just assumed that he had become busy, what with graduation and the job hunt going on and all. What he wasn’t expecting, however, when he decided to go to the airport with Dean to meet Sam, flowers hidden behind his back as a surprise for him, was to see a pretty, blonde woman hanging on the arm of his former lover, and both staring into each other’s eyes as if nothing else in the world mattered. The same way that Dean and Castiel often looked at one another.

The flowers fell from Gabriel’s hands, tumbling in slow motion to the airport’s linoleum flooring. Dean, who had been listening to Gabriel’s constant prodding to learn more about his little brother for months now, felt his eyes widening as he took in the scene. He turned to look at Gabriel, but the happy couple was too close for him to say anything. Gabriel plastered on the happiest look he could muster, quickly kicked the flowers under a nearby chair where they wouldn’t be seen, and welcomed Sam and his new girlfriend—no, fiancé, and at that word, he felt his heart shattering into tinier pieces—Jessica back to Kansas.

Things weren’t easy for Gabriel in the two months that followed. Not that they were any easier for him, now, mind you, but with the wedding day getting so much closer, and with Sam being Dean’s best man, he found himself spending more and more time with the youngest Winchester, and by extension, Jessica as well. He was civil, sometimes downright cheerful, but inside he felt like he was dying a slow, agonizing death that left him nothing more than a walking shell of a man, just going through the motions day by day to make sure those around him were none the wiser. Gabriel loved his brother, though, and he would push past his own feelings if it meant that his little brother had a wedding day that he could look back on and smile at for the rest of his life.

However, now that his brother was happily wedded, Gabriel was free to sulk in his own misery. He would have been happy to do so at home, by himself, or as much ‘by himself’ as he could get, since he still lived with his elder brother and his father, but Castiel made it a point to come by more often during the week to check on Chuck. With Castiel, came Dean, and whenever they were together, they seemed to be in a permanent state of embrace. Even in the kitchen, where Gabriel was trying to enjoy his cereal, which was quickly getting soggy because he couldn’t get past the lip-locked couple long enough to retrieve a spoon from the dish drainer.

“Come on, guys, can’t you do that shit at home? People eat in here!” Gabriel’s voice held a tinge of a whine to it, but he didn’t care. It was enough to get the two to pull apart, finally, and allowed Gabriel to squeeze between them so that he could commandeer a spoon. His Rice Krispies had all but stopped snap, crackle and popping, but he would be damned if he wasted the half-cup of sugar he dumped on the stuff just because they’d gotten a little soggy.

Castiel still had a tinge of a blush on his cheeks, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been that first month, when anyone would catch them together and he’d still spring apart as if scalded, afraid he was caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to do. 

“Sorry, Gabe,” Dean spoke up, a wolfish grin on his too-perfect face. Gabriel had started taking a few art classes at the community college to try and get his mind off things—off Sam—and ever since, he’d started noticing distinct features on almost everyone he met. Dean’s face was almost symmetrically perfect and for some unknown reason, it pissed Gabriel off to no end. 

“No, you’re not,” Gabriel muttered bitterly before turning his attention back to his bowl. He pushed the cereal around, letting the sugar dissolve into the milk. Even if he abandoned the cereal, he could still enjoy the added sweetness of the milk. He didn’t notice the frown that tugged down the corners of Dean’s lips as he looked to his husband for advice. Castiel let out a long sigh; one that was enough to make Gabriel’s shoulders tense. He knew that sigh, that was Castiel’s ‘we need to talk and I’m not letting you out of my sight until we do’ sigh. He hated that sound.

“Gabriel…” Castiel started, moving quickly to block his exit as the elder started to make a break for the doorway, bowl in hand. “Gabriel, you have got to snap out of this funk. It’s not healthy.”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, right. You think it’s that easy?” He slammed his bowl down, splashing soggy Krispies and milk all over the counter. Raising a hand, he snapped his fingers, once, twice, three times in a row before throwing both hands up in the air. “Gee, I guess snapping your fingers and wishing to be happy just doesn’t work! Maybe we should find a fairy and squeeze all the dust out of her, maybe that’ll be enough to help me just snap out of it!”

“Hey Gabe, come on now, you know Cas didn’t mean anything by it…” Dean ventured forward, but took several steps back when Gabriel whirled on him.

“And you! You think it’s easy for me to see you and Castiel” he was obviously upset if he wasn’t using a nickname for his baby brother “in here almost every day, making out like a couple of teenagers in heat? Did you ever stop to think that maybe all I need is to be left alone? To not have to see every fucking one I know throwing their happy love lives in my face, reminding me constantly that the one fucking chance I had at happiness was blown all to pieces when your god-damned brother stepped off the plane with another woman on his arm? No! Because no one fucking sees me! My father stays holed up in his room, my brothers are either married or dating, and constantly spending their time with their loved ones or on the phone with them. Meanwhile, I’m trying to get through having my heart ripped out and stomped on by the one person that I can honestly say I ever fucking loved!”

Silence echoed throughout the kitchen, save for the breathy sound of Gabriel’s pants as he tried to reign in his temper enough so that he wouldn’t start bawling right there in the kitchen. Castiel’s eyes were sad, while Dean’s were blown wide, staring slack jawed at the blonde before him. Everyone was so wrapped up in the emotional explosion, that none of them realized that they weren’t alone in the kitchen any longer.

Standing in the doorway, hazel eyes wide as saucers and hand raised, poised to knock on the doorframe to announce his presence, was Sam. The faint sound of his jeans brushing together as he shifted positions, perhaps intending to back out before he was seen, was enough to grab the other’s attention. Castiel sucked in a sharp breath, while Dean muttered an ‘oh hell’ beneath his breath. Gabriel’s golden eyes were watery as they climbed up the expanse of Sam’s body to meet his eyes. Judging by the look in the younger’s eyes, he had heard everything.

“Fuck…”


	2. Chapter 2

“Fuck…”

The word had left Gabriel’s lips before he could stop it. He wanted to run, but even if his legs didn’t feel as if they would completely turn to mush if he’d tried to move at that moment, he wasn’t sure if he would run toward the man who was standing there with a kicked-puppy look on his face, or far away from everything and everyone that had taken part in the prior conversation.

“Gabe…” Sam started, his jacket slipping from his fingertips and pooling on the floor at his feet. He left it there, all thoughts focused on the flighty looking male standing in front of him. Gabriel took a step back, forcing his legs to support his weight by sheer will alone, for each step forward that Sam took. It looked like some awkward middle school dance, and finally Sam sighed and let his arms drop back to his sides. “Gabe, just wait….”

“I did my waiting, Sam…” Gabriel started, but before Dean could spout off some line about Azkaban, Gabriel flung his arm behind him, hand held up in a silent warning for his best friend to keep his mouth shut. Dean seemed to sense that now wasn’t the time to be acting like a smart ass, but it didn’t keep him from grinning as he quoted the line silently to himself. “I wasn’t the one who said that we had something special and that the distance wasn’t going to change that. I wasn’t the one who just had to run off to California to go to college when there are plenty of colleges here that would have been just as good. I wasn’t the one who decided to spring the fact that I’d fallen in love with someone while I was gone, knowing full fucking well that there was someone back home that was waiting on me. You did, Sam. I don’t see why I should have to wait and hear anything you have to say when you didn’t even have the decency to call me and tell me that you were dating. Silly me thought that we were still together.”

Gabriel hated that heartbroken look on Sam’s face, but the words were already out there and there was no sense in trying to take them back. Besides, he had meant every word. He was angry and hurt. He felt betrayed by the one person he never thought would do so. When Sam reached for him again, Gabriel shook his head and backed off again, only this time, he kept stumbling backwards until his back collided with the cold, hard wall behind him. “If you wanted to break up with me, Sam, you should have done it the night you left. Not hold me close, wiping my tears and telling me how much you loved me. You might as well have torn my heart out and stomped on it, because that’s exactly what it felt like you had done when you showed up at the airport with another person on your arm, and a fucking ring sitting on her left hand.”

Before another word could be said, Gabriel pushed himself off the wall and strode straight for the door. He bypassed Sam’s attempt to reach for him, and ignored his little brother’s calling of his name as he jerked his jacket off the hook. He fished his keys out of the bowl sitting by the front door, and just barely managed to keep from running Luke over as he shoved his way out the front door. The elder blonde raised both eyebrows as he came into the living room, surveying the emotional damage that had been left in the wake of Gabriel’s storming out. 

“Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not, Luke…” Dean sighed as he shook his head. “Look, I’m gonna go after him, just to make sure he doesn’t roll that piece of crap car of Cas’.” He ignored the death glare his husband sent him, just like he did every time Dean badmouthed his beloved car, and laid a kiss on his cheek. “Make yourself at home, Sammy.” He clapped him on the shoulder as he slipped past them all and headed after Gabriel. He had an idea of where he might go, and he just prayed he got there safely.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Roadhouse was where Dean found Gabriel, just as he had predicted. The blonde was sitting in his usual corner booth by the back of the bar, closest to the pool tables where Jo and Ash usually hung out. He had his back pressed to the wall, legs drawn up onto the seat and knees pressed against his chest. An ice-cold beer sat beside him, little beads of condensation running down the bottle and collecting on the stained wood finish of the table, adding to the thousand other rings already soaked into the surface. His arms were locked around his knees, a half-empty bottle of JD dangling between his index and middle fingers. His eyes, damn near the same color as the whiskey that he was pounding down with reckless abandon, were red-rimmed and puffy from what Dean assumed was an entire trip spent crying. He felt heartache creeping up on him at the mere sight of his friend.

“Hey Gabriel…” He knew better than to call him ‘Gabe’. Only Sam could do that, and to do so right now, even in an endearing tone, would be like adding salt to the wound. Gabriel lifted his free hand in a slight, half-assed wave, but he didn’t look up from the cracked pleather of the booth he was seated in. Dean sighed softly as he slid in across from him and reached for the neglected bottle of beer, taking a long swig of it. 

“I admit, what Sam did was kind of a douche move,” he rolled his eyes when Gabriel snorted and took another hard pull from the bottle. “But you gotta talk to him. It’s just gonna tear you both apart if you don’t.”

“You’re just saying that ‘cause you don’t like seeing your little brother upset.” Gabriel muttered, almost a bit bitterly.

“Well, you’re partly right; I hate seeing Sammy upset. But you’re my best friend, Gabriel, and you matter just as much to me as Sam does. You’re family, and I want my family to be happy. So what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna get rid of that fifth, pile back into my car because like hell you are driving after drinking that much, and we’re going to go back to your house where you and Sam are going to sit down and talk this shit out. I don’t give a damn how many chick flick moments you have to get through to get this shit sorted out, but you’re going to do it.”

Gabriel turned his head slightly, leveling a slightly hazy golden gaze at him. “And just what makes you think I’m going to do any of that, Dean?”

That was when Dean leaned across the table, ever so slowly, and nailed Gabriel with a hard look of his own. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to knock that bottle over your head, drag you back to the house, and hogtie the two of you hardheaded assholes together until you work shit out.”

If it were anyone else, Gabriel knew it would’ve been an empty threat, but after having seen Dean in one too many bar fights for his liking, he decided against pressing his luck. He sighed and slid the fifth toward Dean, but only after he had drained the bottle of every last drop. It burned going down, but in his current state of mind, feeling anything else was better than the ache he felt in his heart.

“If this goes south, I’m kicking your ass, Winchester.”

Dean just chuckled and shook his head, digging his keys out of his jacket pocket. “Come on, you ass. There’s a storm coming in and I really don’t want to subject Baby to the possibility of hail.”

“You are far too attached to your car, Dean.”

He gave him a look that could only be described as aghast. “You never mess with a man’s wheels.” When Gabriel started to comment on how often Dean ragged on Castiel’s car, he waved him off. “Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Back at the house, Sam was sitting with his head in his hands, Luke sitting across from him, and Castiel to his right, both trying their best to comfort him. Though, in Luke’s defense, he had never been the ‘comforting’ type to begin with, so he wasn’t sure how much he was actually helping.

“Here, Sam. Drink this, it will help with the headache,” he was holding out a cup of what looked to be herbal tea. It didn’t smell particularly appetizing, but then again, Sam didn’t feel like he could keep much down at the moment anyway.

“No thanks, Cas…” he sighed, sniffling as he brushed his hands through his hair for the billionth time that evening. His own eyes were red and swollen, though it had looked as if he’d been crying before he’d even reached the doorstep of the Novak household. “I don’t think I could keep it down anyway.”

Castiel set the cup down on the coffee table and began to rub small circles into his back instead. They were a close knit family, so it never occurred to him to think twice before offering physical comfort like this to his brother-in-law. Sam certainly didn’t seem to mind the attention any, and almost leaned into it.

It wasn’t long before they heard the tell-tell signs of the impala pulling back into the driveway. Neither Novak bothered to go to the door, knowing that if Dean didn’t have a key, Gabriel did, and neither one had any doubt that Dean would’ve returned without their brother in tow. Sure enough, both men walked into the living room a few minutes later, their smiles, however small they had been, vanishing completely when they took in the scene. This was more than just upset over Gabriel’s outburst and sudden departure.

“Sam…?” Gabriel spoke slowly, while Dean looked between Cas and Luke. “What’s going on, guys?” Dean asked.

Castiel’s oceanic blue eyes were soft, yet sad, as he met his husband’s gaze. “There’s been an accident, Dean, Gabriel. A fire. Jessica didn’t make it out alive.”


End file.
